


Displacement

by sencha



Series: Homecoming [1]
Category: Sinbad (TV)
Genre: Gen, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-17
Updated: 2012-12-17
Packaged: 2017-11-21 08:13:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/595509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sencha/pseuds/sencha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anwar found a new family on the <em>Providence</em>, but that didn't mean he was willing to give up his old one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Displacement

**Author's Note:**

  * For [meridianrose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/meridianrose/gifts).



> Spoilers for up to Episode 7.

"I see Basra!"

 

Anwar scrambled up to the deck, shaking the sleep from his eyes. Rina and Gunnar were already peering over the waters next to Sinbad.

 

"Come on, sleepyhead," called Rina, waving him over. Anwar looked at the small speck of white glinting in the distance.

 

"Home," he whispered, barely audible over the waves splashing against the boat. Rina shot him a sharp look.

 

"No more than the _Providence_ is," she said. "Stop fidgeting."

 

Anwar untangled his hands from his robes. "I wasn't fidgeting."

 

Sinbad reached over to clap him on the shoulder. "She's right, Anwar," he said, turning back towards the sea. He gestured to the speck of land. "It's just another place to stop by on the way to our next adventure and—what in the Seven Seas is going on there?"

 

Anwar felt his heart sink. His hands buried themselves discreetly in his robes.

 

"What? What is it?"

 

Sinbad turned to him. There was no trace of a smile on his friend's face. Nervously, Anwar craned his neck out in an attempt to see what Sinbad had. Sinbad opened his mouth, then shook his head and closed it again. Anwar shifted from side to side in agitation.

 

"Sinbad, tell me! What's happened to–oh, you are such an ass."

 

"Y-your face," crowed Sinbad, doubled over with a thoroughly unattractive fit of giggles. He pitched his voice high in a crude imitation of Anwar’s. "'Sinbad, tell me!'"

 

"Honestly, Anwar," said Rina, "you are so gullible."

 

"Too sheltered," agreed Gunnar from where he stood at the helm. "Not a wise bone in his body, that one."

 

"There’s no such thing as a wise bone," mumbled Anwar. It was difficult to think of witty retorts so early in the morning.

 

 

 

Sinbad insisted on seeing Nala as soon as they stepped off the boat. More accurately, he ran towards the marketplace calling her name and they had no choice but to follow. Anwar tried to bring up visiting his family, almost too quietly to hear, but Gunnar, as always, was a mere two steps behind Sinbad, and Rina treated his suggestion with nothing more than withering scorn.

 

"Hurry up, little turtle," she yelled, running after the rapidly diminishing figures of the other two.

 

"Coming, coming." He waited until she was almost out of sight before turning around and walking in the opposite direction. He didn't have to stand for this sort of treatment.

 

Rina's hand locked around his wrist. "Nuh-uh, pretty boy. Can't have you getting lost."

 

"I was just looking at–"

 

She smiled at him pityingly. "Nice try, but no."

 

 

 

Back at the ship, Cook fondled a meat cleaver, humming to himself.

 

"I hope they remember to bring me back some spices this time."

 

 

 

Nala greeted him warmly enough, if not with the same sparkle in her eyes as she had when she welcomed Sinbad back. Anwar appreciated the sentiment anyway.

 

"It's good to see you too," he said. She looked comfortable in the marketplace, holding herself with the dignity of a queen as she bartered easily with merchants.

 

They had lunch at a small store which Nala swore served the best _al-sikbaj_ in the city. Many of the stalls Anwar remembered from his youth were gone, replaced by jewelry sellers who leered at them as they passed or children who held out apples for them to buy.

 

"It's best to ignore them," Gunnar had said firmly, but Anwar had seen Sinbad flash a grin and a piece of silver at a dark-skinned boy in gaudy orange robes. Anwar himself had managed four apples before they started to fall out of his robes.

 

"It's changed so much," he said around a mouthful of fish.

 

Gunnar shrugged. "We've been at sea for a year."

 

"And things didn't magically grow back after Akhbari died," said Rina. Sinbad made a noise that could have stood for anything from “I agree” to “this fish is really sour but I like it anyway.”

 

The three of them had an answer for everything. They weren't often good answers, but it made Anwar feel a tiny bit redundant. It was pointless being the educated one in the group when the other members never gave you a chance to show off your intelligence.

 

All of a sudden he missed his parents. They had believed he was smart enough to become a doctor. While their praise had grown stifling, it was infinitely comparable to being made fun of all the time.

 

"I just remembered this thing I wanted to buy back there," he said, motioning at some vague spot behind him.

 

"Anwar," said Nala gently, "you're pointing to a wall."

 

"I meant, over there," he corrected, making sure to point at a busy road this time.

 

Sinbad looked up from his bowl.

 

"I was wanting to go back that way too. Good job, Anwar."

 

"No, I–never mind." He pushed his chair back. "I'll go on ahead."

 

"We'll be right behind you," called Nala. She nudged Sinbad. "Hurry up and finish eating before the boy gets lost."

 

 

 

Sinbad glared at an old merchant.

 

"Two shekels and that's my last offer."

 

The merchant eyed him suspiciously but held out his hand for the money. After making a show of checking whether it was real, he reached under the table reluctantly and brought out a necklace strung with red wooden beads.

 

Sinbad snatched up the necklace with a grin, slinging it gently over Rina's head.

 

"You're beautiful," said Nala. Rina blushed. "And you," the woman continued, turning to Sinbad, "are a master haggler."

 

Sinbad laughed, guiding them easily through the crowds. "I grew up here, Nala. It's in my blood."

 

She raised an eyebrow and pointed at Anwar. "Didn’t he grow up here too?"

 

Anwar flashed them a harassed smile from where he was arguing with a dealer across the road. Sinbad laughed.

 

"Having some trouble?" he teased, putting an arm on the dealer's table. "What are you buying?"

 

"Cook asked me to bring back some spices for him," explained Anwar. "It's okay. I've brought the price down to four shekels a piece."

 

"Four shekels?" Sinbad all but shrieked. "Please tell me you never did the shopping for your family."

 

The merchant sniffed. "These are high quality herbs, sir. As I was telling your friend, four shekels is an excellent bargain."

 

"More like an excellent way to rob an unsuspecting tourist," scoffed Sinbad. "Five shekels for the lot."

 

"Are you accusing me of malpractice?" the merchant snarled. "Twenty for the lot, and I'll throw in a handful of nuts free of charge."

 

"Eight."

 

"Eighteen."

 

"Nine."

 

"Fifteen and no nuts."

 

"We have all the nuts we need already, thank you. Eleven."

 

"Twelve. Take it or leave it."

 

Sinbad smiled insincerely. "Eleven."

 

"Do you want to rob me? I have to feed my children!"

 

"I'm sure you do. You should be able to buy them a good dinner with eleven shekels."

 

The dealer scowled. "Fine." He reached under the table and placed the spices on the table. "You put those back," he told Anwar. "Those are for display only."

 

Anwar hurriedly arranged the spices he was holding back where he'd picked them up.

 

"All done?" asked Sinbad. Anwar nodded. He couldn't even buy spices without help. He should never have left home.

 

He shook his head, thinking back to their time in the Land of the Dead. If he hadn't left home his life would be even worse. It seemed like he was doomed to mediocrity no matter what he did.

 

Sinbad punched his shoulder lightly. "Why the long face? We've got plenty of time for a family visit."

 

Anwar looked at his friend in surprise.

 

"Personally, I don't see why you still want to see your parents," said Rina, popping up with Nala behind them. She hooked her arm around Anwar's. Sinbad abruptly sped up, muttering about extra wheels and oblivious idiots. "The families you make for yourself are less likely to betray you."

 

"They're my parents," he said sharply.

 

Rina looked away. Anwar had a sudden vision of Rina shouting in a damp cave, telling the story of how her parents had sold her into slavery.

 

"I'm sorry," he said.

 

She turned back to him. She looked tired, but there was a hint of a smile on her face as she bumped her hip against his.

 

Gunnar placed a rough hand on his back. "We do not all have the gift of having our families here in this world," he said. "While we can, we should try to keep them close."

 

Anwar pressed his sleeves to his burning eyes. "Sun. Too strong," he muttered. Beside him, Rina rolled her eyes, mouthing “men” to Nala. The older woman smiled, a swift quirk of her lips.

 

"It's okay to have many people who are important to you," she said gently.

 

He smiled at her blurry outline. "I know."

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to not_madeleine for being an awesome beta and providing amazingly useful feedback for this!


End file.
